ALAN PARDEW has admitted he slapped a succession of “not for sale” warnings on Andy Carroll partly as tactic to ward off interest in his star striker.

Asked to the point of frustration about the future of Carroll, Pardew always maintained that the player would remain at Newcastle past the January 31 transfer deadline.

Now that the forward has gone, though, the Newcastle boss knows that those assurances can and will be flung back in his face.

But – he argues – with Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all sniffing around the 22-year-old, what else was he supposed to say?

“If it is an embarrassment to me that I said it – if people or the media think that, I’ll accept it,” Pardew told the Sunday Sun.

“But it was a tactic at the time. Part of my defence, which I haven’t really lent on, is that it was me trying to keep people away.

“Everyone was fishing around him and I was trying to keep the sharks away. I didn’t want him to go – that is fairly evident.”

In the end it was 18 barmy hours that turned Andy Carroll from Newcastle United’s hometown hero into the most expensive British footballer.

By close of play on Saturday, as Carroll jetted back from a specialists’ appointment in Sweden, no-one could have anticipated the twists and turns that would crop up before Monday’s transfer deadline.

At that point Pardew’s main concern was a likely EIGHT week absence for his star striker.

Already that day an informal offer had been received from Daniel Levy at Tottenham in the region of £23million, but Newcastle – who were fully aware of Spurs’ long-standing interest in their prize asset – dismissed it out of hand.

But then late on Sunday night there was fresh interest from Liverpool. The question was asked – how much would it take?

The Reds bid £30million but that was turned down. A return offer of £35million was also rebuffed, but by now the striker was in the manager’s room asking for his contract to be re-negotiated.

Newcastle asked him how much he wanted. A reply was never forthcoming and a transfer request was sent to the club by his agent.

The die was cast and all that was left was for United to negotiate the best possible deal – which they duly did. But does it suggest a club of limited ambition?

Pardew says it does not, and added: “What is to stop Barcelona coming in for Rooney?” he said.

“Could Sir Alex stop Rooney going to Barcelona if he wanted to go? All the time I was confident that Andy wanted to stay, but in the end he didn’t.”